The RES in Pictures

Geographies

Unitary Authority (UA)

Unitary authorities (UAs) are areas with a single tier of local government (as opposed to the two-tier county: district structure). In practice the term is only applied to the 22 UAs established across the whole of Wales in 1996, and the 46 UAs established in parts of England between 1995 and 1998. However, London boroughs and metropolitan districts in England, council areas in Scotland and district council areas in Northern Ireland are all also served by single-tier (unitary) administrations. There are four Unitary Authorities within the East Midlands (Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Rutland)

Source: Office for National Statistics,(ONS) 2005

Local Authority District (LAD)

Local Authority Districts (LADs) originated in 1974 when local council functions were divided according to the level at which they could be practised most efficiently. Local authority districts have responsibility for planning, housing, highways, building, environmental health, refuse collection and matters of local service delivery.

The 239 local authority districts (also known as non-metropolitan districts) form the lower tier of the two-tier local government structure found in many parts of England. They are subdivisions of the 34 non-metropolitan (shire) counties. There are 36 Local Authority Districts in the East Midlands.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Census Output Area (OA)

Census Output Areas (OAs) are used across the UK as the base unit of census output. They were introduced in Scotland in 1991 and the rest of the UK in 2001. They superseded Census Enumeration Districts (EDs), although EDs are still used for census data collection. Output areas allow us to look at a range of social and economic data at a lower level than ward, but without the risk of identifying individuals. It also helps us to understand what is happening within a ward or similar area rather than looking at an average of what is happening throughout the ward as a whole.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Super Output Area (SOA)

Super Output Areas (SOAs) are a new geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics. Within England and Wales a Lower Layer (minimum population 1000) and a Middle Layer (minimum population 5000) were introduced in 2004. Unlike electoral wards, these SOA layers are of consistent size across the country and won't be subjected to regular boundary change. Decisions on a possible Upper Layer are expected in 2006. In Northern Ireland there is a single layer of SOAs with minimum population 1300. The Scottish equivalents of SOAs are 'data zones' (minimum population 500) and the 'intermediate geography' (minimum population 2500).

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Lower Layer Super Out-put areas (LSOA)

Minimum population 1000; mean 1500. Built from groups of OAs (typically four to six) and constrained by the boundaries of the Standard Table (ST) wards used for 2001 Census outputs.

The 34,378 Lower Layer SOAs in England and Wales (32,482 in England, 1896 in Wales) were generated by a computer programme which merged OAs taking into account measures of population size, mutual proximity and social homogeneity. The boundaries were released to the public in February 2004.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Housing Market Areas (HMA)

A housing market area is typically based upon patterns of relocation derived from migration data. The Census of Population is the most authoritative source for such information but is only up to date for short periods of time around census collection and publication.

Source: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), 2004

Sites of special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

There are over 4,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England, covering around 7% of the country's land area. Over half of these sites, by area, are internationally important for their wildlife, and designated as Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas or Ramsar sites. Many SSSIs are also National Nature Reserves or Local Nature Reserves.

Source: English Nature, 2006

SSPs - Sub-Regional Strategic Partnerships

emda established seven SSPs to help co-ordinate and facilitate the delivery of economic regeneration across the East Midlands. These include:

The main function of each SSP is to help deliver the Regional Economic Strategy at local level through partnership working, whilst also encouraging, developing and supporting new initiatives and projects that deal with specific economic needs of their individual sub-regions.

In addition to this, each SSP produces its own Sub-Regional Economic Strategy, outlining their strategy and vision for their own geographical areas. This addresses the recognised needs and priorities within each individual sub-region, and also takes into account the wider environmental and social agendas to ensure sustainability.

More information on SSPs

Source: emda, 2005

DEFRA Rural and Urban Classifications

This District level classification has been recommended by DEFRA as a method for describing the level of rurality within Local Authority Districts and Unitary Authorities in England.

The classification proposed is seen as a tool for the purpose of presenting and analysing data that are only available at Local Authority District Level on a comprehensive national basis and therefore DEFRA do not recommend that the classification is used to inform detailed policy design (e.g. for targeting local service delivery).

The classification provides a six-fold grouping of districts, of which five classifications apply in the East Midlands region.

Data Abbreviations

Gross value added (GVA)

GVA is an indicator of wealth creation and measures the contribution to the economy of each individual producer, industry or sector in the UK. It is generally regarded as the best measure of the sum of economic activity within an area.

GVA is an important measure in the estimation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In essence, the link between GVA and GDP can be defined as GVA plus taxes on products, less subsidies on products equals GDP.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2004

Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)

Conceptualises the kind of work performed - job, and the competent performance of the tasks and duties - skill.

The SOC is broken down into 4 areas; the major groups, sub-major groups, the minor groups and the constituent unit groups. The major group structure is a set of broad occupational categories which are designed be useful in bringing together unit groups which are similar in terms of the qualifications, training, skills and experience.

Detailed information on the SOC.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Benchmark

The database calculates a straightforward average of the data, against a dataset and presents it as an average for a region. It presents values on a scale according to their proximity to the regional average whether it is +/- 10%

The regional average shown is the benchmark.

Source: Lincolnshire Research Observatory (LRO), 2006

Back to Top

Data Sources

Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) provides information about the levels, distribution and make-up of earnings and hours worked of employees in all industries and occupations.

This survey was developed to replace the New Earnings Survey (NES) from 2004. It includes improvements to the coverage of employees, imputation for item non-response and the weighting of earnings estimates.

• Workplace earnings estimates are based on people who work in a particular area, who may or may not actually live in the area.
• Residence based data concentrates on people who actually live in the area and who may or may not work in the area concerned.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Local Area Labour Force Survey (LLFS)

The Labour Force Survey is a key source of information at a local level - providing data annually on local labour market, learning and skills issues.

The LLFS is a large sample survey in which around 10,000 people aged 16 and over are interviewed each week. In order to produce estimates from the survey, the LLFS sample data are scaled up (weighted) to ONS population estimates.

The Labour Force Survey was preceded by the Annual Population Survey in 2004.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the government department that provides UK statistical and registration services. They produce a wide range of key economic and social statistics which are used by policy makers across government to create evidence-based policies and monitor performance against them.

The Office also builds and maintains data sources both for itself and for its business and research customers. It makes statistics available so that everyone can easily assess the state of the nation, the performance of government and their own position.

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)

The job of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to help create sustainable communities, working with other Government departments, local councils, businesses, the voluntary sector, and communities themselves.

They hold information on housing and the Indices of Deprivation.

Source: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), 2004

Audit Commission Area Profiles

The Audit Commission's Area Profiles provide a wide ranging picture of the quality of life and public services in a local area. They bring together data, information and assessments for every local authority area in England.

The Audit Commission brings together information and tools with a set of indicators of local quality of life (including the recently published Local Quality of Life Indicators: Supporting Local Communities to Become Sustainable).

The Audit Commission has chosen ten themes that cover the quality of life:

Under each theme are a range of indicators available for District and Unitary Authority data, which can be found within the RES tool.

More information on area profiles.

Job density

Number of jobs to working age population: The numbers of jobs per resident of working age (16-59/64). The total number of jobs is a workplace-based measure and comprises employees, self-employed, government-supported trainees and HM Forces. Jobs density is defined as the total number of filled jobs in an area divided by the resident population of working age in that area. Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), 2005 (from Nomis website: www.nomisweb.co.uk)

Source: Audit Commission, 2005

National Housing Federation (NHF)

The National Housing Federation represents 1,400 independent, not-for-profit housing associations in England and is the voice of affordable housing.

Represent and negotiate for the strategic interests of a diverse but united sector in providing affordable homes to meet the nation's housing social needs.

More information on the NHF

Source: National Housing Federation (NHF), 2005

Small Business Services (SBS)

The small business service is an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The Statistics Team provides performance information which enables the SBS to judge progress and manage resources. They produce statistics on the business population, new enterprise and survival rates.

Value Added Tax, or VAT, is a tax that applies to most business transactions involving the transfer of goods or services. Once your business turnover reaches a certain level, you will have to register for VAT. This means that whenever you buy or sell anything in the course of your business, you will have to pay VAT to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

Source: Small Business Services (SBS), 2005

Scenario Impact Model (SIM)

The Scenario Impact Model is an economic model of the East Midlands economy developed by Experian for emda.

Source: emda, 2006

Back to Top

Strategies

Regional Economic Strategy (RES)

This model was constructed to support the Regional Economic Strategy as a tool to hold and display evidence data from the original strategy document.

The East Midlands Regional Economic Strategy sets the framework for ensuring the long term sustainable economic growth of the region, supported by a range of actions to ensue the vision is achieved.

More information about the RES

Source: emda, 2005

Back to Top